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October 19, 1981
United Press International
James Watt Under Fire
By EDWARD ROBY
Environmentalists presented Congress today with petitions bearing the
signatures of more than 1.1 million Americans who demand the ouster of
Interior Secretary James Watt.
The petitions, tied with red ribbons and conspicuously marked with the
names of the states that generated them, were delivered to House
Speaker Thomas O'Neill, D-Mass., and Sen. Alan Cranston, D-Calif., at a
rally staged by leaders of the Sierra Club and Friends of the Earth
chapters from 46 states.
"These petitions bear evidence that the American people will not
tolerate the tide of anti-conservation policies being pursued by the
Reagan administration," Sierra Club president Joe Fontaine told the
rally on the Capitol steps.
Rafe Pomerance, president of Friends of the Earth, called the petitions
symbolic of "a gathering wave of opposition to the policies of Interior
Secretary James Watt.
"A million voices are calling for James Watt to go," he said.
Cranston called Watt a "puppet of the exploiters and destroyers" who is
pursuing reckless and irresponsible policies in managing the nation's
natural resources.
"I say James Watt must go," said the California senator, who voted
against Watt's confirmation. "I feared the worst then and even worse
things have happened than I anticipated since James Watt became
secretary of Interior."
Fontaine said his group and the League of Conservation Voters plan to
turn the 1982 congressional elections into a referendum on what he
called "Watt-ism."
"Watt-ism views our public lands, forests and other resources not as a
legacy for the future, but as a bank balance to be drawn down as
quickly as possible in the name of immediate development and a fast
buck," he said.
The environmental leaders -- who gathered under a red, black and gray
banner that read: "More than 1 million Americans know Watt's wrong" --
later split into groups to lobby their state congressional delegations
for Watt's ouster after the rally.
The nationwide anti-Watt petition drive succeeded "beyond our wildest
expectations," Doug Scott, a Sierra Club official, said over the
weekend.
Scott credited fear of Watt for a sudden surge in Sierra Club
membership, which went from 183,000 to 245,000 in the past 12 months.
Petitions circulated by the group contained a small box for the signed
to check if he desired to become a member.
In an 11th-hour attempt to blunt the impact of the petition deluge, two
of Watt's political allies, assistant Senate Republican leader Ted
Stevens of Alaska and Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., took to the Senate
floor Friday to denounce "extremist environmentalists" and the Sierra
Club for staging a "media blitz."
Other Watt supporters circulated a leaked Sierra Club internal document
describing the petition drive as "an unparalleled opportunity" to
demonstrate "the unique grassroots political strength of the Sierra
Club" in Washington.
The secret planning document told chapter leaders the club's campaign
was launched with "careful political soundings and 'inside' advice from
Capitol Hill."
Douglas Baldwin, Watt's personal spokesman, said the document showed
the campaign to scuttle his boss was really a club promotion "packaged
with a sort of cornpone Madison Avenue flavor."
"It's a membership and fund-raising drive disguised as an attack on
Secretary Watt and the whole thing is wrapped up in a plan to
manipulate the media and the Congress," he said.
Derrick Crandall of the American Recreation Coalition, a group that
includes yachtsmen and snowmobilers, echoed Baldwin's comment, accusing
the club of trying to "create a false impression of what the public
really believes about Jim Watt."
Scott, the senior club staffer who drafted the plan, said he was not embarrassed in the least.
"The Sierra Club is a political organization that is seeking Watt's
removal and the overturn of the anti-conservation policies of the
Reagan administration," he said. "To accomplish that, it is necessary
that the Sierra Club have a bigger budget, more members and more
members. We are constantly seeking to add to our strength and the
impact of what we do."
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